Finding A Dream
by Scarlet Rurouni
Summary: [One Shot] Set post movie. Chihiro moves into a new apartment, and find herself reminiscing...


Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well… I think I've got some pocket lint, and maybe an out of date French textbook somewhere, but other than that you won't get much for suing me. 

*Also note: This is my first "Spirited Away" fic, and while I am sure this may have been done before, I personally have never read _any_ fanfiction from that movie, period. So, if this sounds like something you read before, or perhaps even wrote yourself, I am deeply sorry, and just know that it is purely coincidental. 

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Finding A Dream

"Oof!" Chihiro set down the final box in her new apartment with a huff. She had just moved in that day, and while her new neighbors were kind enough to help her lug her things up the three flights of stairs, her so called "friends" that had promised to help had all conveniently come up with excuses not to be there. She sighed and sat down on the box, fanning herself. It was hot, and she was tired, but at least it was done. Now all she had to do was unpack everything. Which, as she looked around at all the boxes, looked as though it would prove to be a much more difficult task than she originally thought. "Oh well," she sighed, "If I start now, maybe I can go down to that lake I passed on the way over here…"

~~~~

Several hours later Chihiro found herself sorting through the contents of the last box. _Finally, _she thought happily. _Just the one left, and then I can get some air!_ Near the bottom of the box, she found a few books, mainly left over from her earlier school days, but one was special. Carefully, she picked up the journal, carefully wrapped in tissue paper, containing all of her hopes, dreams, fears, and thoughts from when she was a child. She could no longer remember why she began to keep a journal, but she did know that ever since she started, she hadn't stopped. Day after day, no matter what happened she would always find time to write a paragraph or two in her journal. While this particular one had seen its last page filled long ago, she treasured it above all her others, as it was her first. With a wistful smile, she tenderly opened the now crumbling notebook to a random entry near the center of the journal. She ran a careful finger down the text, neatly printed by the hand of a child. Sighing a soft sigh, she closed it back up and moved to put it on her new bookshelf with the others. Before she could tuck it in next to her other journals, a small slip of paper fluttered from the journal to the ground. Slightly wrinkled and begging to brown with age, she picked up the small slip of paper, turning it over, only to gasp at it's contents. 

It was a tiny card, the kind you would send with a bouquet of flowers. The kanji had apparently long since faded away, except for that of her name. Still, however old it was, she instinctively knew exactly what it was, and what it had said…

__

"Good luck, Chihiro. We'll meet again."

It was the card attached to the first bouquet of flowers she had ever received, a farewell bouquet. Slowly raising a hand to cover her gaping mouth, she slumped onto the floor. _I thought… so then… it wasn't a dream…_

When she was nothing more than a child, she had somehow wound up in a strange place, a world filled with gods and ghosts. She was forced to work for her keep, and somewhere along the way she had met a boy about her age, or so she thought at the time. She nearly lost him, and the thought that he may have died nearly broke her heart in two. However, as she got older, the strange and magical place seemed more a dream than reality. To this day, Chihiro had never been able to decide if it had been real, or if she had merely dreamed it all, until now. The existence of the tiny card proved to her beyond a doubt that the bathhouse had been a real place, with real magic. And if that was true, then that meant…

__

Haku… what happened to you??

~~~~

Chihiro closed her eyes, laying back on the dock, propping herself up on her elbows so that she could turn her face to the slight breeze and setting sun. Taking deep cleansing breaths, she allowed her feet to sway lazily as they dangled off the shallow dock in the water. Once she had gotten over the shock of finding the card, she had decided to go through with her earlier plan of walking down to the lake near her apartment. She had seen it on the drive over that morning, and now with the sky turning shades of pale peach, it seemed almost too beautiful for her to look at the water reflecting the diminishing rays with stunning accuracy. The ripples caused by her small feet broke he water's surface, creating an endless supply of stained glass in the colors of the setting sun on the surface of the water. Still, for all the beauty she was surrounded with, she could not help but feel a pang of sadness…

Where was he? Had he ever escaped? And if he had, where did he go? He was a river god, that much she knew, but the Kohaku river had been filled in by the time she had found him at the bathhouse, so where did he have left to turn? or had he spent his years wandering aimlessly, looking for a home. Or worse…

…he might still be there.

Chihiro shuddered at the thought, and prayed to every deity in existence for his safety. _Maybe… just maybe… I'll see him again._ She sighed heavily, and opened her eyes. To her surprise, it was now nearly dark. She shook her head at herself, _baka… with your luck you'll get lost on the way home!_ Rising to her feet, she put her sandals back on and looked out over the lake once more, and smiled softly. "Haku…" she whispered, "I _will_ see you again one day… I just know it." Nodding firmly, though to convince herself or the listening wind she couldn't tell, Chihiro turned on her heel and walked back along the dock towards the lake's edge. Or at least she started to. After the second or third step, the slipperiness of the dock got the best of her cheap sandals, and she fell towards the water, hitting her head on the edge of the wooden dock before slipping into the cold, pure lake. Vainly, she reached for the dock, but it was too late. The blackness of the water was already beginning to encompass her, and she barely had time to think his name before the blow to her head forced her into unconsciousness…

~~~~

"-hiro! Chihiro wake up! Chihiro!!!"

She moaned softly, someone was calling her. No, someone was _yelling_ at her, and she had an incredible headache that was quickly making her wish she was still asleep in her soft, warm…

__

I know that voice…

Her eyes snapped open in an instant. She was not in bed, she was not even indoors. She was soaking wet, lying back on the wooden dock, and a very concerned young man was looking down at her. Though he seemed to be greatly relieved that she was wake, as he gently helped her into a sitting position.

"You had me worried, I was afraid you weren't going to wake up." he said, offering her a small yet warm smile. _His voice… he sounds so familiar…_ Confused, Chihiro found herself staring into this stranger's eyes, puzzling over how he knew her name, only to find that his eyes weren't as unfamiliar as the rest of his appearance. _It can't be…_

"H-haku??" she whispered, still not able to believe what she knew by now had to be true.

He smiled, "You do remember. I thought you may have forgotten me after all these years."

She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "I could never forget you!" she cried defiantly, "For so long, I thought it was just a dream… but, you're real! I always wanted to believe you were real Haku!" she exclaimed, unable to prevent the tears from silently streaming down her face and onto his simple shirt.

"It's alright Chihiro…" he murmured reassuringly, gently lifting her face so that he could gaze into her eyes. She smiled timidly at him, "You don't look the way I remember… you're older…" was all she could think to say, lightly lifting a hand to trace his jawbone.

He smiled and captured her hand in his, "I couldn't stay a boy forever…" was his only reply as he gently brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Chihiro blushed and looked towards the ground, "I… I've missed you Haku." she confessed. "Even when I thought you were a dream, I always wished that you would prove me wrong one day and walk through my door."

He gently tilted her chin up with the tips of his fingers to look her in the eyes once more. "But you seemed to have walked through mine…" was all he said before closing the distance between them and kissing her gently, lovingly.

Chihiro smiled and pulled away just far enough to look at him after a moment, "Haku… I love you."

He smiled softly at her, "I love you too Chihiro." he replied before kissing her once more, just as tenderly and chastely as he had the first time.

Breaking the kiss, Chihiro smiled once more, and turned so that she could lean against him, taking comfort in his embrace. And there they sat, long into the night, simply content to have found each other once more.

~~*~~

A/N: ::sheepish grin:: I know, I was suppose to be finishing my Vash fic, but I had a severe case of writer's block, and when you compound that with a really bad day, it creates a time when I just needed to write something pointless and fluffy. Anyway, Read and Review please! It's what I live for!


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